Family Guy Season 1 (UK)

Family Guy finally gets a release on DVD and the whole of the first season is included here. Based around the same lines as the Simpsons it is very different. The storys here are very wied. Other main differences here are also the family. There is Peter, the lovable yet dumb head of the family, Lois who keeps everyone out of trouble, the three children, Meg, Chris and Stewie, While Meg and Chris never really caught my attention that much Stewie and Peter steal the show. Stewie is by looks a normal baby, however he is really very evil to say the least! He tries to kill his mother on several occasions through out the show.
The show is without doubt going to be compaired to the Simpsons. However they are two very different shows. The Simpsons while been very funny has some very good humor lurking benith the surface. The stories it does are on the whole very real. FG however piles on the jokes thick and fast. However I rate the simpsosn above this because the characters are developed a lot better. All 13 episodes are present here on the DVD. The picture and sound are all very good and clear. However there are no extras! With the amount of material that was on the Simpsons DVD this comes as a real let down.
Overall I enjoyed family guy. The jokes come fast and the animation is very good. The characters in it are also what makes the show. Stewie and Peter are great and get some good lines and laughs. However the Simpsons is still the better of the two. Characters are much more developed and there are a lot of jokes under the surface. The package as a whole is a big let down. No extras at all. If I were you I would buy both the Simpsons and this. They are both very good.

I'm a huge fan of Family Guy, as I found the entire first series hilarious on sky one, but if someone said to me "it's get better" I wouldn't have believed them if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes.
This is where the First Series DVD comes into play as I found out it was heavily cut with the more "Adult" joke axed to make the 6pm-7pm watershed, and my it did get a whole lot better, but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.

Video: -
Hmm what do we have here... a 4:3 transfer, and not a bad one at that, with all the colours not too dark but too bright, good enough so you can watch all 14 episodes and not be blind at the end.

Sound: -
Now here is a problem, with the initial specs claiming a 5.1 soundtrack I was jumping for joy, and with the back of the package stating a 5.1 soundtrack I was jumping for joy, I actually played the disk and was very surprised to find a 2.0 soundtrack, but with that aside it's a very crisp, a 5.1 would've been wasted because it's all about the dialogue.

Extras: -
NOTHING!!!!
Which is a shame, because an Audio Commentary would've suited this series well. Shame.

Overall this is a well personated package, the whole thing is thrown on to two disks and at a low price of £20 which will suit the pockets of most dvd collectors.
To say that The Simpsons is better than Family Guy would be a terrible think to say (and visa-versa), because they both might be shows about families but similarities stop there.
For those with and open mind and a good sense of humour will defiantly want to check this one out.

Content

There are fourteen episodes of Family Guy spanned over this two-disc set, comprising of the first and second runs of the show (marketed as 'season one' here). These range from extremely amusing to pant-wettingly hilarious, and here's a brief outline of each:

Death Has a Shadow
Against strict orders from Lois, Peter drinks profusely at his buddy`s bachelor party. After showing up at work hung over, Peter gets fired. When he applies for welfare, they accidentally send him a check for $150,000, which leads to a spending binge. When Lois discovers the truth, Peter attempts to return the money to the taxpayers by dumping it from a blimp at the Super Bowl. But when he is arrested, his family must come to the rescue.

I Never Met the Dead Man
While teaching Meg to drive, Peter crashes into a satellite dish and knocks out the city`s cable. He goes crazy without television, until Lois suggests he spend more time with his family. This plan backfires when Peter drives the family nuts. Meanwhile, after Lois forces Stewie to eat his broccoli, he attempts to destroy all vegetables by building a weather control device.

Mind Over Murder
When Peter goes to Chris` soccer game, he inadvertently punches a woman he thought was a man. Restless under house arrest, Peter turns the basement into a bar and Lois ends up stealing the show. Meanwhile, Stewie attempts to create a time machine to avoid teething pain.

Chitty Chitty Death Bang
Lois is furious with Peter when he allows Meg to attend a party the same day as Stewie`s first birthday. Unbeknownst to Meg, she`s actually attending a cult meeting and when Peter brings her back home, the cult leader follows. Stewie recognizes the leader as the man who wants to return him to the "ovarian bastille."

A Hero Sits Next Door
When a bubbly new family moves next door, Peter gets annoyed. Lois becomes fast friends with Debbie, Meg tries to pick up on son Kyle and Peter is forced to invite Joe to play on his company baseball team. But when Joe shows up to the game in a wheelchair and wins the crowd`s hearts with his slick manoeuvres and winning plays, Peter decides he wants to be a hero too.

The Son Also Draws
Chris is booted from the Youth Scouts, so Peter takes the family to the Big Apple to get him reinstated. But when Peter takes a wrong turn, they end up at a Native American casino where Lois hits the slot machine once too often. Peter must embark on a vision quest to prove he has Native American blood to save the day. Stand-up comedian Bobby Slayton makes a guest voice appearance as Lenny, the pit boss.

Brian: Portrait of a Dog
Peter persuades Brian to swallow his pride and enter a dog show to win some extra cash. But when they argue over a trick gone bad, Brian decides he`s had enough of being a second-class citizen. His struggle to assert his civil rights lands him on death row at the pound, where he discovers every dog has his day.

Peter Peter Caviar Eater
When Lois` wealthy aunt dies unexpectedly, the Griffins inherit her extravagant mansion. Although his family doesn`t want to relocate, Peter is eager to enter the ranks of the upper classes and moves them onto the estate. Revenue from the sale of the Griffins` old house goes to the live-in servants, who haven`t been paid in months. Caught up in the spirit of his new social standing, Peter bids ten million dollars at the Historical Society for a work of art, offering to trade his mansion for the piece. It is revealed, however, that the mansion used to be a whorehouse and is not worth any significant amount. A commoner once again, Peter finds that his family still loves him.

Running Mates
Lois decides to run for the school board, which thrills Stewie who will be somewhat unsupervised during her campaign. Lois runs unopposed until Peter joins the race in order to get his favourite teacher reinstated. He immediately starts negative campaigning that spreads lies about Lois and shows sexy photos of her... His tactics work and Peter is elected. His first order of business is to replace the hall monitors with robots. Ultimately, his new policies backfire when Peter allows Chris to bring porno mags to school and protests erupt. Peter must publicly apologize in order to win Lois back and save face with the town of Quahog.

Holy Crap
Peter`s dad is forced to retire from the mill. A stern workaholic, the elder Griffin does not take retirement well. When Peter and Lois suggest that he come spend some time with them, Peter`s dad agrees, and Peter gets excited at the prospect of bonding with his father. But the new living arrangement doesn`t go according to plan: In addition to being a workaholic, Peter`s dad is also a control freak. He tells the children what TV shows they can watch, tells Peter how to spend his free time and instructs Lois on how to raise the kids. Peter decides that the best way to get closer to his father is to bring him along to the toy factory, but this plan also backfires. Peter`s boss is impressed by the retiree`s work ethic and hires him as a foreman, ensuring widespread misery at the plant. After Peter`s dad increases work hours and implements strict rules, Peter is desperate to make him quit, and tries to convince him to participate in a plot to kidnap the Pope. The Pontiff is also impressed by the retiree`s ambition, and offers him yet another job.

If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'
When Peter`s favourite show, Gumbel 2 Gumbel, faces cancellation, he takes drastic measures to save it. Using Chris as bait for "The Make-A-Dream-Come-True" Foundation, Peter tells them that Chris` dying wish is that the show be renewed. But when the Foundation arrives to check up on Chris` "tumorsyphillis-itis-osis", Peter panics and tells them that Chris was miraculously cured. Word spreads of the "miracle" and Peter becomes the "Miracle Healer of Quahog." Of course, Peter loves the attention and Lois thinks it`s immoral to live such a lie. When the Griffins become mysteriously plagued by everything from locusts to bloody bathwater, Lois forces Peter to end the charade.

Love Thy Trophy
When their Who`s the Boss float takes top prize in the Quahog Harvest Day Parade, the neighbourhood literally goes to war over who gets custody of the trophy. Meanwhile, in an effort to get big tips at her new waitressing job, Meg tells customers that Stewie is her illegitimate crack baby. When family services investigate, and finds the Griffin home in the middle of a war zone, they take custody of Stewie. Once everyone finds out that Stewie`s in foster care, the neighbourhood declares peace and plots a rescue mission.

Death is a Bitch
After Lois discovers a lump in Peter`s breast, he lands in the hospital. He`s okay, until the whopping bill arrives! To avoid payment, Peter fools the hospital into thinking he`s dead. As a result, Death pays a visit to the Griffin home. While Stewie is excited to meet his idol, the rest of the family doesn`t want Peter to go--especially Peter! A chase ensues and Death is injured. While He recuperates, Peter is forced to take over Death`s unpopular duties.

The King is Dead
Lois is named the new artistic director of the Quahog Players theatre group and decides to direct The King and I as her first production. Peter wants to be a star and becomes such a nuisance that Lois makes him a producer to get him out of her hair. He goes on a major power trip and soon wrestles total control away from Lois, kicking her off the production team all together! Peter soon realizes his vision by turning the musical into a racy cyborg battle, complete with bikini-clad dancing girls.

Family Guy is an irreverent, side-splittingly funny comedy. The jokes come thick and fast, and are far more risqué than your average episode of the Simpsons. Like that show, most of the humour centres on the father, who is even more inconsiderate and obnoxious than Homer! Baby Stewie provides many of the laughs, with his constant attempts to kill his mother (it's funnier than it sounds), who is the bane of his existence. The humour is often very surreal, and the show features frequent 'cameos' by famous stars, although unlike the Simpsons the star's voices are impersonated and they're lampooned to hell! One of the best characters has to be Brian the dog, who can usually be found sipping away at his martini while hurling cutting asides at Peter.

There are also some notable guest voices, including Norm McDonald as Death. Believe me, his voice suits the role perfectly... Lacey Chabert (of Party of Five and Lost In Space 'fame') also provided the (uncredited) voice for Meg Griffin in the early days of the show.

Video

Family Guy is presented in 4:3 (1.33:1), exactly as it was on television. The image is extremely bright, with vibrant colours, solid blacks and a good level of detail. There are some instances of artefacting, with noticeable jaggies in certain scenes, but overall this is good stuff. It is definitely the best looking version of the show I've seen, and that includes digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts.

Audio

Contrary to the sleeve notes, Family Guy does not come with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, but rather a Dolby Surround one. My amp only detected the track as Dolby Stereo, so it is likely that Fox have forgotten to encode the surround flag or my amp doesn`t recognise it (there is more than one method for encoding the surround flags). This was easily corrected by manually setting the amp to Dolby Surround mode. Sound is good for what it is, with very clear dialogue and the occasional use of the surround channels helping to bring the episodes to life, but it's obviously no 'Saving Private Ryan'.

Features

I'd like to take a minute to write about how impressive the supplemental material is. I'd like to, but I can't. There is nothing on offer here (I don't count animated menus), not even cast and crew biographies. All in all this is a very disappointing show from Fox, and it makes my job as a reviewer a difficult one. How much is it possible to write about nothing (quite a lot by the look of it)?

Overall

To sum up, Family Guy is a great series presented in a below average package. There's no denying that the picture and sound quality are as good as you could realistically expect them to be, but the lack of supplemental features is a real letdown, especially considering the high price of the set. Another irritating thing is that two episodes have layer changes. You would have thought that this could have been avoided, given the episodic nature of the program. Even with these faults, Family Guy`s good points far outweigh its bad. It is a great show and this DVD is well worth picking up if you're a fan of this type of humour, especially as the episodes are presented in their full, uncut glory. Highly recommended.

Family Guy, we all know one, our dad, the guy that lives next door, even the people on TV, they all love there family. The thing is now everyone wants to be a Family guy, and it`s because of this Peter Griffen has been introduced to a animated sitcom named..um...err...well...um...Family guy! You might not be able to work out how a drunk, foul mouthed, lazy and down right stupid man could become such a great husband and father......well good, you don`t have to because Family Guy shows you how in a over the top, rude, crude, and so, so funny way! The show revolves around a family of six crazy people (if you include the dog) , a dad named Peter, a mum named Louis, a boy named Chris , a girl named Meg, a baby boy named Stewie and a dog named Brian. I know what your saying right now "oh another adult sitcom that thinks it can beat The Simpsons, but in reality it can`t!" but the thing is it can, you all just need to give it a chance, it seems to beat The Simpsons because The Simpsons never had talking babies and talking dogs, The Simpsons never had guest apperences from Death or Jesus, The Simpsons never had enough spin off`s, The Simpsons never had flash backs that revealed small but great jokes and The Simpsons never had great DVD value. The simpsons season one for about 30 pound would get you 13 or 14 old crappy animated episodes, while with Family Guy you get 14 new animated episodes for now only 13 pound, no it might not have many extra features,but is the uncut not shown on TV bits that have been added to this already great package of episodes not enough! the show as it says on the box is not for kids as it is rudder than The Simpsons but not South Park rude so that you are not even humored by the show. Best episodes include "Chitty Chitty Death Bang" and "Love Thy Trophey" where the residents of Spooner Street go to war over a trophey!

In closing this show is hard hitting but never cruel, it is funny and never dull, and now it`s on DVD, what more could you ask for? Buy it or if you don`t Peter would say "boo you, yay beer!"